Cecil John Edmonds was born in Japan but educated at Bedford School and Christ's Hospital before going on to Pembroke College, Cambridge, subsequently passing into the Levant Consular Service. He served under Sir Percy Cox for ten years in the Persian Gulf during which time he captured the German cipher book in 1915 which enabled the deciphering of the Zimmermann telegram. He joined the Iraq administration in 1925 succeeding Sir Kinahan Cornwallis as Adviser to the Ministry in 1935. During his time in the Middle East he travelled extensively. He worked in the Foreign Office from 1945-1951 before joining the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) for 6 years as lecturer in Kurdish, the first time the language had been taught in England.